Paolo Simoncelli strict on Pecco Bagnaia and the "Valentino Rossi" group;
The head of SIC58 Squadra Corse Paolo Simoncelli in an interview with Corriere della Sera commented as his usual unabashedly on the difficult season of Pecco Bagnaia, completely dominated by his teammate Marc Marquez, in his first year in the official Ducati team. “Pecco was not prepared for such a strong teammate. Pecco comes from Valentino Rossi’s group and by dint of listening to all the things they say in that group he underestimated Marquez, which instead sent him into a crisis”, Simoncelli explained.
“The year before he lost the World Championship by winning 11 races. He thought, ‘I will just need to fall less’. But Marc on the track is a beast and it sent him into a crisis” continued Simoncelli, who then praised the number 93 for his ninth career title and for his attitude on the track: “I knew he was the strongest. I always liked him, he runs and thinks like my son, never gives up and always tries. If Marco had not died, we would have had a blast. You know what sportellate”, concluded Marco Simoncelli’s father.
This season will be decisive for the future of both riders, given their expiring contracts. According to Marco Melandri, the most at risk is Bagnaia: “Seen from the outside, it seems to me that the relationship between the parties has slowly crumbled. If Pecco and Ducati were once husband and wife, now they are mere relatives. Between them, I no longer see that harmony and that bond that was so strong and close that they pushed them together to go further. I think he will not stay in 2027, then maybe I am wrong” explained the’former Ducati rider to Gpone.
Marco Melandri, on the other hand, says he is almost certain that Marquez will stay in Ducati: “I think he will close his career in Rosso. In Ducati he knows the environment and knows how they work, plus they are very immediate in meeting his requests. The only reason he might return to Honda would be to secure a nice retirement, but I don”t think he needs it.
Also for 2026, Marc Marquez remains the clear favorite for the MotoGP World Championship despite the injury he suffered at the end of the season: “In some ways that injury was almost a good thing, because he was exhausted, he wanted to get the weight of winning the title and all that tension off his chest. This forced rest allowed him to recharge the energy he needed to come back even stronger at the’beginning of next year”.
